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Lone parents

Use our Single Parent forum to speak to other parents raising a child alone.

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Original poster

How much do you spend on groceries a week?

43 replies

lottymadbird · 07/03/2008 09:59

and how many DCs do you have?

is your spend restricted due to finances or can you spend what you like?

ExP thinks that DS and I should be able to manage on £29 per week.

Thanks.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

schneebly · 07/03/2008 10:01

£163.29 on groceries for you and DS?

gillybean2 · 07/03/2008 11:24

Wow I think he's right. I would love to have that much to spend!

I have a budget of £45 a week max for groceries, that's food, toiletries and cleaning products. That's for me and 1 ds (aged 9). My son has packed lunches (no free school dinners) so it includes that. I consider that a pretty good budget, when i was on income support the budget was £30 a week.

In addition i have an 'other' budget which i dip into for additional grocery extra's like birthday cake, easter eggs etc. But it also has to cover all my additional extras like school trips, outings (swimming, zoo, cinema), clothes, school uniform, scout subs, evenings out for me (which i don't have), dvd's.... basically anything else we want to buy which isn't stictly a necessity. So there isn't much left to spend on extra groceries in reality. That budget is £75 a month so £17 a week possible extra.

I wouldn't say it's a decent amount, but we get by and since the budget went up from £30 to £45 a week (now i'm working) we can afford a more varied variety of fruit and veg, which is usually half of the budget to be honest. Plus we're vegi so don't spend money on meat, though vegoi substitutes like sausages are more expensive than meat by and large!

We eat a very basic diet, mostly pasta, am always looking out for the bogof deals and don't have a lot of luxuries and i never buy alcohol. I also can't afford to have friends over for a meal (mine or his), and we rarely have biscuits or treat tyoe foods in the hous. So depending on what you are used to buying and what you consider to be 'grocery' shopping your spending might be different.

Analyse you shopping bill out, work out what you're spending things on and where you can make savings. What are necessities and which are luxuries. Can you buy ownbrand instead of branded maybe. Then you can show him why you think £x is reasonable and also show yourself where that money goes. If your DS is in nappies still for example then you're going to be spending out on those.

Gilly

sagacious · 07/03/2008 11:26

Thats a very precise amount.

skeletonbones · 07/03/2008 11:26

about £50 a week for food, not including household stuff like bleach, washing powder and the like, that is for me and two school age kids. My spend is restricted by what we can afford, but we are veggie and i cook most things from scratch which is cheaper. I think the ammount that i spend buys us good healthy food, not extravegant, but not really frugal either. i am not having to buy really rubbish food, as i have had to in the past when we were really skint.

Threadworm · 07/03/2008 11:29

Is OP's £163 for groceries only or for groceries plus all utility bills etc?

Original poster

lottymadbird · 07/03/2008 11:36

sorry my PC messes up the pound signs. that should have read 29 pounds. Precise because thats whats left over after direct debits come out of my account.

OP posts:

Tinkerbel6 · 07/03/2008 11:36

£163 is enough to live on for bills and groceries if there are no debts involved, my food shopping is around £30 per week for the 2 of us and that includes a bottle of red and a bar of chocolate now and again.

Original poster

lottymadbird · 07/03/2008 11:38

DS is still in nappies, I always cook proper meals from scratch and I grow veg on my allotment (although last year didnt get any winter veg in). DS is allergic to cows milk and he drinks loads of goats so that costs me around £7 a week just for milk. The nappies are around £8 so that leaves £14 for everything else inc petrol for the car.

OP posts:

Original poster

lottymadbird · 07/03/2008 11:40

GOD ! sorry pound sign gremlin again.

Goats milk costs 7 pounds, nappies 8 pounds leaving 14 pounds for everything else including petrol for the car (not that I go very far in it!).

OP posts:

charliecat · 07/03/2008 11:40

29 is enough when there is stuff in the cupboards to eat and the freezer neds emptying. But not all the time.
What are all the dds?
I spend about 50, that includes wine vodka and chocolate.

charliecat · 07/03/2008 11:42

are you on income support or working?
Whats the goats milk about?
Use less nappies! Or go reuseable.

Tinkerbel6 · 07/03/2008 11:42

lotty it would be tight but you can manage if you buy your fruit and veg from the market and shop around and cook from scratch, toiletries and cleaning products will take a chunk of that but the £1 shops are good for that.

charliecat · 07/03/2008 11:42

ah just read your other post....what money do you have coming in?

skeletonbones · 07/03/2008 11:43

£29 is tight when you have nappies and having to buy dairy free/goats milk/cheese. Could you show him an average weekly shopping bill and explain that the ammount is too small? is he struggling finacially, or is he wanting to be selfish and keep more money for himself?

davidtennantsmistress · 07/03/2008 11:47

i'm averaging £30 p/w for me and ds, but thats with my vouchers, and also I get a big box of nappies each month to last the month (£16).

tbh I don't think men understand what things cost. my EX never did.

do you get sure start vouchers - not much but it helps.

Tinkerbel6 · 07/03/2008 11:47

seems like the milk and nappies are your biggest expense, are you including child benefit in that amount ? if you go to the doctors they could prescribe goats milk on prescription but they would test him to see if he was really allergic to cows milk, do you get the healthy start vouchers as they can be used to buy fruit, veg and milk and are payable up until the child is 4 ?

jiji · 07/03/2008 11:49

I spend about 125 pounds a week on food, toiletries and cleaning stuff. That is for me and 2 dc, one in nappies. Bills, and other expenses are extra. Dh has only been gone a week or so, but paid all the bills and gave me 250 in housekeeping.

I dont think I could live for one day on 26 pounds. That is awful.

davidtennantsmistress · 07/03/2008 11:54

jiji - you do when you don't have a choice I have £120 roughly a week to live on, & pay all household bills & DD's etc so can't afford to spend loads.

Original poster

lottymadbird · 07/03/2008 11:59

Sorry yes i do get the surestart vouchers so thats another 2.80 a week.

His skin really flares up if I give him cows milk.

I'm on income support at the moment and that amount includes child benefit,child tax credit, everything.

DDs are all normal run of the mill things but he does go to nursery two mornings a week which costs me a lot.

I do shop around, pound shops are my most frequent trips out. Hopefully DS will soon be out of nappies, at least by the summer so that will help a lot.

exP is rolling in it, he has about 600,000 pounds cash in the bank that i know of. he's just very self-centred and a miser I think, and wants to punish me for leaving him or try and force me financially to go back to him. Not that that would EVER happen.

OP posts:

jezzemx · 07/03/2008 12:00

I'm on a tight budget and have found it is much easier if I am not bothered which brand I use. I always go for 2 for 1's and special deals, doesn't matter what brand it is. If it is something like fresh meat or anything else that will freeze I buy 2 of them and shove in the freezer.
Just after pay day I buy 2 joints of meat and 2 chickens (morrisons always has a special on their meat) and I shove them in the freezer and bring one out a week for Sunday roasts. (comes in useful when funds are drying out by the end of the month)
I'm lucky because we don't have any allergies in my family and I can use any kind of washing powder. I love it when I can get a huge box on special (lasts for ages)

davidtennantsmistress · 07/03/2008 12:06

agree with jez re the meat bit - when DS's maintenance goes in (rightly or wrongly depending on if you're my XH and claim that maintenance is for DS??) anyhow, I go to the butcher and he does a huge back of chops sausages, joints, mince chuck steak as well, and chicken fillets. If I spend £30 there it easily lasts me 2 months in the freezer. (is very much needed some weeks)

have you seeked legal advice yet re the financial side of things - be it a legal arrangement between yourselves (as we have at the mo) or the CSA?

Original poster

lottymadbird · 07/03/2008 12:10

I always buy the whoopsie bargains (almost out of date reduced ones I mean) for meat and dont eat much meat myself.

CSA cant touch him as he lives out of the UK unfortunately. Am trying to wrangle some money out of him myself.

OP posts:

charliecat · 07/03/2008 12:14

so hes saying you have 29 is enough and that he shouldnt have to give you anymore on top?
Fucking hell. The interest on 600,000 a month would be a nice start.

Saying that my x watched my cupboards go empty when I had only child benefit coming in last summer.
Everyone, including my old driving instructor offered me money except xp.

rebelmum1 · 07/03/2008 12:38

I spend around 50 -60 quid a week, try very hard to keep it closer to 50. This includes wine though and some weeks you have run out of everything. Am thinking of the following:

Monthly budget of 200 - 50 quid a week with an additional shop at beginning of month for stuff that can keep and are a back up, tins rice, dare I say it ...wine (Gov might come knocking and checking my consumption) and wot not and try and keep the weekly budget lower.

I have rotating weekly meal plans, i save my shopping lists and meal plans and receipts .. sad I know

PersephoneSnape · 07/03/2008 12:40

I try to get by on £50 a week for food/petrol/after school activities for me and three dcs. I shop in LIDL and asda and never buy full price meat, freezing from whats available in the asda 'oopsie' counter/ meals are based on what is in the freezer. children have packed lunches - I take lunch to work, except friday when i have a subway (whoo hoo!) I try not to drink during the week, maybe having a bottle of wine at the weekend.

£29 is awful for two of you. your ex is a tightwad.

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